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Hey, y’all! I seriously can’t believe our Hawaiian adventure is already nearing its end once again…Sure, time flies when you’re having fun, but I swear we’re talking warp lightning speed here! But before I get into all things island, I just want to say thanks to all of you who have commented on or emailed me about my last ‘disgruntled’ post. It really has meant so much to me. THANK YOU.

OK, back to the matter at hand- vacation! Since we last talked, we’ve been all kinds of busy! (Well, ‘busy’ may not be the right word since we are talking Hawaii here, so let’s just say that we’ve been on the go and making full use of our time!)

Walking around Waikiki...

My favorite trees on Earth, the Banyan trees...Just in case you're interested, they're a type of fig tree known for 'aerial prop roots' that grow from branch to ground...

View from our hotel in Waikiki 🙂

Sunset over Honolulu...View from dinner at Hau Tree Lanai...

With Dad at dinner under the trees 🙂

Unfortunately, the same could be said for John last week, only his ‘busy’ was more in the traditional sense- work was a bear! My poor husband put in 12-hour days every day last week…and up on the roof tops tearing down and reinstalling new equipment, no less! And for those of you who haven’t been out here- or who have never seen just about any movie concerning a Pacific island ;)- it’s da’gum hot and sunny here every minute! But, come Friday, he was all our’s for the entire weekend. *Happy Girl*

❤

For the weekend, we hopped over to Maui…What made us choose Maui? Well, a couple of things…You may remember that Kauai is our favorite of all the islands- it’s so lush and green and laid back and perfect (Eleanor, I’m so jealous that you’ll be there next week!)- but all the things we like to do there- hiking, climbing, exploring- aren’t exactly conducive for pregnant gals :(. Maybe next time :). The Big Island is, by far, one of the most unique places on Earth- it’s barren and rocky and looks like the moon’s surface- but it’s ginormous (all of the other islands could fit into it TWICE!), which meant that we’d spend all of our time in the car since we only had a few days. So that left beautiful, glitzy Maui. And it was the perfect choice 🙂

From our room in Wailea, Maui...

Enjoying an afternoon in the pools...

Sunrise over Maui...

For our first morning on the island, John and I wanted to share one of our favorite Maui experiences with my parents- the downhill bike ride from atop the Haleakala Volcano, the ‘mountain’ that forms nearly 75% of the island. At 10,000 feet tall, it makes for one helluva ride to the bottom- and fortunately, it hasn’t erupted since 1790!

Starting up in the clouds...Did I mention that it's 40F at the top?! Brr...

Looking down the mountain to the sea...

'We'll be comin' round the mountain when we come...' Baby T's first bike ride 🙂

Stopping to smell the lavender fields...

Changing climate zones again...

Look how big those succulents are!! Yep, that's me next to them! Jeez!

Stopping for lunch on the way down...

Maui Mexican and Margaritas 🙂

What better way to cap off an active morning? How about some more sun, sand and pool? Coming right up!

In the infinity pool...You can't hardly tell where the pool ends and the ocean begins!

❤

Sunset over the lifeguard stand 🙂

For our final day on Maui, we ventured to the far northwest part of the island- the ritzy town of Lahaina, Hawaii’s original capital. Its name means ‘cruel sun’ in Hawaiian and considering that it only gets 13 inches of rainfall a year, that’s a perfect name! The town has about 10,000 permanent residents, although the population soars to 40,000+ with tourists. Just for kicks, we looked up a few of the properties we saw for sale along our way- 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 1200 square feet with an ocean view (but not ocean front)…Any guesses?? $6.65 million. (Yes you read that correctly. Pick up your jaw from the floor.) Wow.

Walking along Lahaina Harbor...

The things he does for my pictures 🙂

You know how we love stumbling onto Art Festivals! This one was beneath the second largest Banyan tree in the world- it takes us over 2/3 of an acre. GORGEOUS.

On Front Street...

World's largest Buddha outside of Japan...

One of the best lunch views you could ask for 🙂

Bon Apetit! And for the record, the burger I'm holding is our waitress' 'prop' and it easily weighed 5 lbs!

So there you have it- our side adventure over the Maui! Now if only the flight home could be as quick and painless as the interisland flights- 25 minutes at only 10,000 feet! Oh well, not gonna let myself even think of that yet! So for now, mom and I are headed out to do some shopping. John and Dad are headed to the east part of the island to do one of our favorite hikes. Then we’ll all meet up again just in time for dinner at one of our favorite beachfront stomping grounds, The Shore Bird…Life is good, folks 🙂

The moon over Honolulu, as seen from our lanai, welcoming us back from our weekend away...It's always good to be back 🙂

One Response to “One Last Aloha…”

What a great blog. Lahanina is the only place that I had been but failed
to see any of what you saw. Our ship let us off there for just a day and
it was beautiful. What a bike ride you had! Pregnant mamma do be careful. Get up and walk around about every hour on the flight home. It will keep the blood flowing to the baby. Give John a kiss. Love you, Granmom